you were visited by a caseworker who declared that your children are no longer safe in your care she took your children with her and she gave you some paperwork about a court date you're terrified as to what's going to happen at this court date you don't want to lose your children forever and you're afraid as to what's going to happen at this hearing what are you supposed to do [Music] this may sound like i'm asking you not to breathe but this is a very important first step you may not believe me but panicking and getting stressed out will not help your case whatsoever if it did i would tell you to start panicking even more just for good measure right now your children are relying on you to keep a level head because they need you thinking clearly now more than ever the texas department of family and protective services also known as cps has the upper hand and if you want to get your children back you're gonna have to stay calm the first thing you need to understand is your right to an attorney you have the right to represent yourself and you're not required to be represented by an attorney but i highly advise against this in case you didn't know you have the right to a court appointed attorney in nearly all cps cases in texas if you haven't read our blog on getting a court appointed attorney i highly recommend you take the time to go and do that we'll put the link in our description the second thing you need to understand is that you have certain rights when cps is attempting to interrogate you these include the right to refuse to take a drug test the right to refuse a search of your home even the right to remain silent if you haven't read our blog on fighting cps interrogations i highly recommend that you take the time to read that we'll put that link in the description as well as a parent you have a fundamental right which is protected by the u.s constitution to make decisions concerning the custody care and control of your children do not be intimidated by cps and allow them to trample on your rights that they are statutorily prohibited from violating the law says that a state agency may not adopt any rules or policies or take any other action that violates the fundamental right and duty of a parent to direct the upbringing of the parent's child the adversary hearing is the first real hearing after the children have been taken into possession by the governmental entity being cps and this hearing is required to be held within 14 days of the children being removed from the home before the adversary hearing begins the court is required to inform you of your right to be represented by an attorney and if you are indigent the court must inform you of your right to have an attorney appointed to represent you if the court appoints an attorney to represent you then this hearing can be postponed for up to seven days to allow your newly appointed attorney time to prepare well i'm going to go ahead and give away the ending of the story first at the conclusion of the hearing the court shall return the children to your home unless the court makes some very specific findings under the law the word shall is a very powerful word it means must or no choice lawmakers do not use that word lightly which is important for you to understand because the judge shall return the children to your home regardless of his or her personal feelings about you cps has the burden of proof at the adversary hearing the purpose of this hearing is not for you to prove that you deserve to get your children back the purpose of the hearing is for cps to meet their burden and prove that there would be a continuing danger to the children if they were returned home to you remember the judge shall return the children to your home unless the court finds that there was a danger to the physical health or safety of the child which was caused by an act or failure to act of the person entitled to possession and for the child to remain in the home is contrary to the welfare of the child two the urgent need for protection required the immediate removal of the child and reasonable efforts consistent with the circumstances and providing for the safety of the child were made to eliminate or prevent the child's removal and reasonable efforts have been made to enable the child to return home but there is a substantial risk of continuing danger if the child is returned home you see it's not enough for cps to prove that there was some sort of danger to the children while they were in your care but that they have made efforts to prevent the removal of the child from your home additionally cps must show that they have made reasonable efforts to return the children to your home but that there is a substantial risk of continuing danger if the children are returned home you see cps routinely fails on points two and three and they routinely fail to offer any evidence that they attempted to keep the child in the home in the first place document document document it's very important for you to keep a very detailed journal as to every interaction that you have with cps remember it's going to be very difficult for you to remember exactly what was said several weeks later whenever you finally appear for the hearing you should be recording as well every single interaction that you have with cps should be recorded use your cell phone and record video or just record audio but make sure that you record everything this might come as a surprise but sometimes cps caseworkers lie it's legal for you to record cps in texas because texas is a one-party consent state that means that just one party to the conversation has to consent to the recording if you are a party to the conversation then you can consent to recording the conversation you should point blank ask the cps investigator every single step that's required of you to enable the children to return home at the cps adversary hearing if at that hearing the judge hears that cps placed unreasonable demands upon you then they obviously aren't complying with the statute we appreciate you watching our video if you know someone who's going through a cps case be sure to share this video with them so that way they have the benefit of the knowledge be sure to subscribe to our channel and check out some of the other videos that we published you can also find us on facebook twitter and instagram see you later